Committee

Chairperson

Karyn Hamer

From her first club motorsport event at 17, Karyn has been a passionate grassroots and club sport advocate. An Australian Masters Champion and life member of Nissan Datsun Sports Owners Club, when not competing Karyn is also a regular Clerk of Course or Steward at many events. From Hillclimbs to Motorkhanas, Regularities to Super Sprints she also regularly organises these events through the several clubs she is a member of. A qualified (and CAMS accredited) photographer, Karyn is a member of the Australian Sport and Club Development Commission (ASCDC)and has been a founding member of WAMS since the committee’s inception in 2010. She stepped into the Vice Chair role in 2015.

Vice Chair

Dr Karyn Lun

Karyn has been involved in motorsport medicine for over 20 years, officiating at many rounds of the V8 Supercars (previously SATCC), Formula One, World Rally Championship and various national and state race meetings. She has been Chief Medical Officer for events at Lakeside International Raceway and Qld Raceway, as well as Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the Gold Coast Indy/V8 Supercar event for over a decade. Karyn competed in the 1995 season of the Qld Gemini Racing series for the Quit Racing team, sponsored by the Qld Cancer Fund. She is a member of the International Council of Motorsport Sciences and has attended congresses in Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Orlando, US. Professionally, Karyn has presented at medical conferences in Australia, the UK and Europe, and has served on the Board of a not-for-profit foundation as well as various College committees. She is passionate about safety in motorsport for all participants, particularly female drivers, officials and crew.

Committee Members

Laura Byrnes

With over ten years experience behind the wheel of a race car, and a plethora of motorsport marketing experience, Laura is the primary driver of Speedway Motorsport team ‘Red Shamrock Racing’. She is a pint sized pocket rocket determined to break down the stereotype of women in motorsport. Driving from the age of 11 in Junior Sedans, Laura was Captain of Team Australia in the Australasian Championship held in New Zealand in 2011, as well as the first female to win the Kalgoorlie Open Club Championship. In 2012, Laura stepped up into Production Sedans and won the Motorplex 2013 Track Championship in her rookie season. Laura was named the sole Production Sedan driver to be accepted into the 2014 ‘Speedway Australia Rising Star Program’ by the national speedway body, Speedway Australia, and attended the Australian Institute of Sport. In recognition of her determination, success and positive image within motorsport, Laura received a scholarship from the Layne Beachley ‘Aim for the Stars’ Foundation in 2015 and was also the first motorsport competitor to receive a General Sports Scholarship from the University of Western Australia. Laura is an ambassador for the Miracle Babies Foundation.

Eboné CoatsEboné Coats prides herself on being an enthusiastic member of the motorsport community, as a leader, driver, CAMS official, fitness enthusiast and long time advocate for circuit racing in the Northern Territory. One of the first female racing drivers at Hidden Valley Raceway at age 14, Eboné is known for competing in Improved Production meetings, and over a decade of support races for V8 Supercars and the Bathurst 12hr. Racing under the #37 which was also the number used by her Grandfather, Eboné also fulfills the position of Clerk of Course for many local and national racing events when not racing. 2017 is Eboné’s first year at WAMS.

Kelly HandleyKelly has been an active member of CAMS-affiliated clubs for almost 15 years and has been participating in motorsport at a club, state and national level for more than a decade. Kelly has competed across a range of disciplines including tarmac and gravel rallying, supersprints, motorkhanas and more recently hillclimbs, contesting her first state championship in 2016. Kelly’s true passion is tarmac rally navigating and she’ll start her eleventh Targa Tasmania in 2017. When not in a race car, Kelly is a Sydney-based senior marketing communications and research professional, with experience working with some of Australia’s best known brands. Keen to support the increased participation of women in the sport – particularly in grassroots motorsport – Kelly joins WAMS in 2017.

Janelle OrrockJanelle began watching motor sport at a young age first spectating with her family and then going on to officiate from her late teens. She prides herself on making things better for officials from a grass root to National level, having officiated at many Supercars rounds, national, state and club events predominately in a administrative role. She is President of the South Australian Motor Race Officials Association and on the SA State officiating panel. Janelle joins WAMS in 2018.

Samantha Reid

Samantha’s passion for the automotive industry started out at just eight years of age go-karting in her hometown in South Australia. Following the traditional open wheel pathway Samantha made a name for herself asone of Australia’s fastest female drivers. Also a fully qualified driver trainer and with her background study in Mechatronic Engineering, Samantha has worked in a number of areas within the automotive industry in Australia and internationally including product training, durability testing, road safety, junior development, as well as being a judge for the prestigious Wheels Magazine’s “Car of the Year”. A foundation member of WAMS and the 2014 Vice Chair, Samantha stepped into the role of Chair person in 2015 taking over from Belinda Taylor.

April WelshApril’s interest in motorsport began at a young age, growing up in the pits watching her father and grandfather compete in both speedway and circuit racing. In 2013, April jumped behind the wheel of a Formula Vee with no prior racing experience and in her first year of racing was awarded a Youth in Motorsport Scholarship. Since then, April was the first female to ever qualify on pole and finish on the podium in Formula Vee in WA History. An Ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, supporting youth to pursue their dreams as she has done whilst living with a chronic health condition; Type 1 Diabetes, away from the track, April is the chair of the Youth Advisory Committee for Child & Adolescent Health Services, and has been part of the project team for the last seven years for the planning and construction of Perth’s new Children’s Hospital. April currently sits on the Health Service Executive for WA Department of Health. She is studying a Commerce degree with a double major in Public Relations and Events, Tourism and Hospitality. 2017 is April’s first year at WAMS.